Chapter 21 - Fresh Start
Seto walked into the large living room and looked around, a smile threatening to surface. The room had wooden floors with white walls and was connected to a dining room with the same flooring and walls. A television was placed against one wall with two bookshelves beside it, and a black leather couch with two chairs was across the room. The dining room consisted of a glass table with three, dark wooden chairs. "She really got a nice place," he thought, hearing Tea shut the door behind him. During the day, Tea had told him about her new apartment. She had apparently set it up over the weekend andhad invited him over as her "Honorary First Guest."
"You like it?" she asked, walking around and tossing her coat on the nearby chair. She smirked at his reaction and said, "Come on. I'll give you the grand tour."
Seto followed her into the kitchen, taking in the small space. It had a silver refrigerator, stove, and three counter tops. He then followed her down the hallway to see a small bathroom and bedroom at the end. The room had white carpet and light blue walls, and her bed had dark blue covers on it. A wooden dresser was near the closet door with a large window above it. Even though it was so much smaller than his mansion, Seto felt happy for her. He knew this was her home.
"So, what do you think?" she asked, walking back toward the kitchen. Seto sat down on one of the dining room chairs, noting out of the corner of his eye Abraxas looking outside.
"It's very...nice," he answered.
"You want something to eat? I have a couple of steaks in the freezer. Figured I would use them if somebody came over."
"Sure. Anyway I could help out?"
Tea chuckled and shook her head. "Nah, I enjoy cooking. You can open up a bottle of wine, though, if you want."
"You have wine in here?"
"Yeah. I stole a couple of bottles from my mom when I moved. I'm not an alcoholic, but I like the taste of some alcoholic beverages. Why? Don't tell me you've never tasted alcohol before?"
It was Seto's turn to chuckle. "No...I've definitely had alcohol before."
He watched her take out some steaks and start preheating the oven. Taking a couple of spices off the rack, she took out a cutting board and started seasoning the steaks. "You an alcoholic?" she asked meekly, smiling over at him.
"No." He stood up and walked into the kitchen before turning to her. "Where is the wine?"
"In the top cupboard. Here..." Opening a nearby cabinet, she took out a knife and said, "Our bottle opener." Seto smirked and, placing the bottle on the counter top, stabbed the cork and pulled it out. He then found two glasses and poured the two some wine.
"You sure you don't need any help?" he asked as he sat back down again, sipping his wine.
"Yep," she stated cheerfully, placing the steaks in the oven. Walking over to the table, she smiled and sipped her wine as well. "Thank you for coming over. I figured since you helped me with everything, you should be the first one to visit."
"It's nothing," he said.
"Oh, so you would do this for anyone?"
"I didn't say that," he countered. "I simply said it's nothing."
An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment, the two taking a gulp of their wine, before Tea asked, "So why me?"
Seto slightly choked on his wine. "What do you mean, why you?"
"Why did you help me? I know you don't like me, so why help me through all this? Why help me when I have problems, when in the past you've made it obvious you want no part of anybody's drama? Why help me...start fresh?"
Seto slowly set his glass down on the table. Abraxas's mocking laughter could be heard, making him let out a hard sigh. "I just...felt...bad for you."
"You felt bad?" she repeated, her voice stern.
"It's just...family has never been good for me, and so when I see someone with family problems, I understand where they're coming from." He looked up at Tea to see her eyes searching his face. "You were in Noa's world. You saw how psychotic my step-father was. I know how family situations can become so bad, so horrible, so out of control. When I saw how distraught you were over your family situation, I couldn't help but not get involved. I wanted to–"
"You wanted to help me out," Tea finished. "You wanted to make sure I didn't get hurt." All Seto could do was take another sip of his wine and nod his head, looking away. The fact that his guard was down was scaring him. He wanted that wall to come back up, to protect him from this girl. He wanted that security that came with her not knowing anything about him. Yet that wall had vanished, replaced with his mouth rambling on about how he actually cared for her safety. Feeling a hand on his arm, he looked over to see her smiling at him.
"Thank you for everything," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "You have helped me so much, in school, in life, in...everything. You've allowed me to start out new. I don't know where I would be if you hadn't helped me out. Thank you." And then, without warning, she stood up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her head resting beside his.
Seto's breathing stopped. Was she...hugging him? Slowly his arms wrapped around her, and he swallowed the lump caught in his throat. "Like I said...it's nothing." The two held onto each other, showing no signs of letting go, while Seto tried to control his breathing. He had given Mokuba hugs before, but that was something brothers did. This...was different. Alien. And even though it almost scared him, it felt somehow right all the same.
"Oh, shoot!" she suddenly exclaimed, quickly letting go of him and running into the kitchen. Thinking he did something wrong, Seto watched her disappear into the kitchen only to come back with a metal plate in her hands. "Forgot about the steaks!" she exclaimed. Letting out an unknown sigh, Seto smiled at her and took one of the steaks before pouring himself some wine.